The Literary Review’s ‘bad sex’ award has been cancelled because, its organisers say, the public has already been exposed to “too many bad things in 2020”. The prize for “unconvincing, perfunctory, embarrassing or redundant passages of a sexual nature in sound literary novels” will resume next year. In the meantime, the judges warned authors not to take the cancellation as a “licence to write bad sex”.
Whale frolics near Statue of Liberty
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Michael Jackson’s monkey destroyed vocal booth
Bubbles, Michael Jackson’s famous monkey, disrupted the recording of Beat It with a dirty protest, reports the Daily Express. A guitarist present at the recording said Jackson “stopped bringing [Bubbles] to the studio because he tore apart the vocal booth and threw s**t against the wall at Westlake Audio”. He added: “Man, that monkey just ripped that f**king vocal booth to shreds.”
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X’s location update exposes international troll industryIn the Spotlight Social media platform’s new transparency feature reveals ‘scope and geographical breadth’ of accounts spreading misinformation
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Can the BBC weather the impartiality storm?Today's Big Question MPs’ questions failed to land any ‘killer blows’ to quell the ‘seismic outrage’ faced by the BBC
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The age of criminal responsibilityThe Explainer England and Wales ‘substantially out of kilter with the rest of the world’, says filmmaker whose drama tops Netflix charts
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Home Office worker accused of spiking mistress’s drink with abortion drugSpeed Read Darren Burke had failed to convince his girlfriend to terminate pregnancy
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In hock to Moscow: exploring Germany’s woeful energy policySpeed Read Don’t expect Berlin to wean itself off Russian gas any time soon
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Were Covid restrictions dropped too soon?Speed Read ‘Living with Covid’ is already proving problematic – just look at the travel chaos this week
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Inclusive Britain: a new strategy for tackling racism in the UKSpeed Read Government has revealed action plan setting out 74 steps that ministers will take
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Sandy Hook families vs. Remington: a small victory over the gunmakersSpeed Read Last week the families settled a lawsuit for $73m against the manufacturer
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Farmers vs. walkers: the battle over ‘Britain’s green and pleasant land’Speed Read Updated Countryside Code tells farmers: ‘be nice, say hello, share the space’
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Motherhood: why are we putting it off?Speed Read Stats show around 50% of women in England and Wales now don’t have children by 30
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Anti-Semitism in America: a case of double standards?Speed Read Officials were strikingly reluctant to link Texas synagogue attack to anti-Semitism
